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Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

When LeBron James left Cleveland for Miami nearly four years ago, emotions were obviously running pretty high. A lot of things that probably shouldn’t have been said were said. Media, fans, LeBron — it wasn’t handled all that well by anyone.

But let’s make one thing clear: no one handled himself as poorly as Cavs owner Dan Gilbert.

Here’s a refresher on some of the more pointed comments Gilbert made in an open letter (that was written, quite famously, in Comic Sans font) to fans following LeBron’s departure:

You simply don’t deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal.

I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE. You can take it to the bank.

I can tell you that this shameful display of selfishness and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our “motivation” to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels.

Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there.

The self-declared former “King” will be taking the “curse” with him down south. And until he does “right” by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma. Just watch.

So, obviously, Gilbert was wrong. He behaved like a petulant child that just lost “his” toy, and he threw a temper tantrum in an idiotic and completely regrettable letter where nothing he said came true.

Of course, someone capable of making comments like that in the first place probably isn’t capable of showing humility, apologizing, or even saying he regrets what he said. Here’s what Gilbert told Jason Lloyd of the Beacon Journal when he was asked if he regretted “The Letter”:

I would’ve reworded the language in The Letter, but I don’t regret sending a letter out to our fan base. People forget the letter was not to LeBron, it was to our fan base. If I had to do it again, for sure, I would’ve reworded several parts of it. But I think it definitely needed a strong statement from me at that time. I keep a couple binders on my desk and I have a binder of the responses to The Letter from the people of Cleveland. For some reason, it appealed to this generational Cleveland thing. If you want to talk about books, someone should publish all the responses to The Letter. It was like, ‘We’re from Cleveland and we’ve been rejected.”

The Cavs will have max cap space this season. LeBron James could enter free agency. Not that I think LeBron is basing the future of his career on things Gilbert says in interviews, but wouldn’t fully apologizing when given the opportunity at least help a tiny smidge? Is there any scenario where Gilbert admitting what we all know to be true wouldn’t be better than him saying they should make a book based on the responses to his embarrassing letter?

The damage has already been done, of course, but Gilbert doesn’t get enough blame for slamming the door shut on a potential return. If he had just behaved like a rational adult, perhaps it would be possible (or even likely) at some point that LeBron would play for the Cavs once again.

Instead, Gilbert continues to be oblivious at best and delusional at worst. When asked by Lloyd if his letter had a negative impact on the organization over the last four years, Gilbert used third person to make his point, because of course he did:

You never know for sure, but I haven’t felt it or been aware of it. People said nobody would come here, that’s not true. Do I think any players are going to not come here because Dan wrote a letter three or four years ago? I don’t think so.

Maybe he’s right. Non-LeBron free agents might not care about the actual letter, but that’s missing the forest for the trees.

Free agents, at least guys better than Jarrett Jack, might not come to Cleveland because the owner’s ego clouds any rational judgment. Cleveland was supposed to win a title before LeBron. That was wrong. Cleveland was supposed to “not come back” to the lottery. That looks like it will be wrong, too.

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Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

Gilbert owns Quicken Loans right? Can someone tell him to stop saturating the airwaves with those ads? We get it already. I think they've gotten worse than Progressive. If you've got a good product, you seriously shouldn't have to advertise that much

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Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

You can say the letter was inappropriate but so was the decision in the way it embarrassed the Cavs and insulted the fan base. What Lebron, Wade and Bosh did was legal but it was still a collusion of 3 players trying to fix the game and it worked to the degree that it was a priority of the league in the last lockout to put systems in place to try to keep it from happening again.
Gilbert sending out the letter doesn't make Lebron the good guy.

Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

Gilbert owns Quicken Loans right? Can someone tell him to stop saturating the airwaves with those ads? We get it already. I think they've gotten worse than Progressive. If you've got a good product, you seriously shouldn't have to advertise that much

No he owns Fathead. Quicken Loans has the naming rights to the Cavs arena much like Bankers Life for the Fieldhouse

Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

To be fair he says he would change a lot of what he wrote if he had it to do all over again. All he says is he doesn't regret writing "a letter" to the fans. I agree the guy is an idiot but let's please get our facts straight.

I would’ve reworded the language in The Letter, but I don’t regret sending a letter out to our fan base...

If I had to do it again, for sure, I would’ve reworded several parts of it.

Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

You can say the letter was inappropriate but so was the decision in the way it embarrassed the Cavs and insulted the fan base. What Lebron, Wade and Bosh did was legal but it was still a collusion of 3 players trying to fix the game and it worked to the degree that it was a priority of the league in the last lockout to put systems in place to try to keep it from happening again.
Gilbert sending out the letter doesn't make Lebron the good guy.

Gilbert was dead wrong. He went all "Color Purple" on LeBron and his response response was the equivalent of a 2-year jumping up in down and screaming at the top of their lungs. Has any other CEO put a curse on one of their former employees and bulk emailed it to the stakeholders of the company? What sane person would ever do that?

Lebron's contract with the Cavs had ended and he had every right to go play for any other team he wanted. Collusion only applies to the owners and those that work in the front office. Players can talk to other players, work out with them, call and talk to them anytime they want. There is nothing wrong with it either from an ethical standpoint. The Decision program was a terrible way to break the news to his former employer, especially since it seems that Dan Gilbert really thought he was going to re-sign with the Cavs. So they were both wrong but what Dan Gilbert did was worse.

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Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

I'm not sure why this "Lebron might go back to Cleveland" Theory has lasted so long. That dude will never play for Cleveland again, and it was true the moment he walked. He will probably retire in Miami.

Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

Gilbert owns Quicken Loans right? Can someone tell him to stop saturating the airwaves with those ads? We get it already. I think they've gotten worse than Progressive. If you've got a good product, you seriously shouldn't have to advertise that much

Yeah, places like Quicken Loans need to be taken away, really crazy that they got away with the stuff they were doing... Once I found out Gilbert was the owner of it, everything made sense... smh

Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

"The Decision" was one of the most obnoxious things ever, but there's no doubt that Lebron left Cleveland for a superior franchise.

I honestly did not mind it as much as everyone else, I mean, I think Lebron did not thing it would turnout to be as big a deal as that, I think he saw it as a chance to give back, all the proceeds went to the boys and girls club, but that part was overshadowed by what people looked at differently. I don't think he embarrassed Cleveland or their fanbase, dude just made a decision on national TV, they would have been pi**ed at him no matter if it was aired TV or not.

Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

To be fair he says he would change a lot of what he wrote if he had it to do all over again. All he says is he doesn't regret writing "a letter" to the fans. I agree the guy is an idiot but let's please get our facts straight.

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You mean... the MEDIA used a misleading headline to grab eyeballs??? Not directed at you, but rather at 'the system' of media.

Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

I honestly did not mind it as much as everyone else, I mean, I think Lebron did not thing it would turnout to be as big a deal as that, I think he saw it as a chance to give back, all the proceeds went to the boys and girls club, but that part was overshadowed by what people looked at differently. I don't think he embarrassed Cleveland or their fanbase, dude just made a decision on national TV, they would have been pi**ed at him no matter if it was aired TV or not.

I doubt he expected such a backlash that I agree with however he let the Cavs think that he was coming back and then hosts a Decision special and well you get the rest.

LeBron leaving Cleveland doesn't bother me or him teaming up with Wade and Bosh for that matter he was within his rights he fulfilled his contract and left afterwards.

But to lead them on that he was staying and then hosting a Decision special which pretty much embarrassed them was the real issue. Sure there would be people upset that he left I mean really no team/city wants to lose a major star (unless there's someone better to replace him) but if he just had a press conference or released a statement saying that "After being in Cleveland for 7 years I decided to move on to the Miami Heat" I think people wouldn't have been so outraged.

Because it would show that he at least respected Cleveland/fans who did nothing but love him while he was there.

Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

I doubt he expected such a backlash that I agree with however he let the Cavs think that he was coming back and then hosts a Decision special and well you get the rest.

LeBron leaving Cleveland doesn't bother me or him teaming up with Wade and Bosh for that matter he was within his rights he fulfilled his contract and left afterwards.

But to lead them on that he was staying and then hosting a Decision special which pretty much embarrassed them was the real issue. Sure there would be people upset that he left I mean really no team/city wants to lose a major star (unless there's someone better to replace him) but if he just had a press conference or released a statement saying that "After being in Cleveland for 7 years I decided to move on to the Miami Heat" I think people wouldn't have been so outraged.

Because it would show that he at least respected Cleveland/fans who did nothing but love him while he was there.

I can understand that point, but I guess I never really realized or saw him say he was planning to come back to Cleveland, that is why I am not sure he was leading them on. I think most expected him to stay in Cleveland but never heard him indicate that. Could you go into what he did to lead them on, I think that is the confusing part for me.

Now that’s all over with. And the thing fans can’t seem to reconcile is the very public way in which they were unceremoniously dumped.

“He kept us in the dark all the way up till the end,” said Gary Hunter, who came to watch the announcement at Harry Buffalo’s. “What do we look like, begging somebody to stay for us? If you’re gonna be here, you’re gonna be here. But if you’re not, then just be gone. But you could’ve given us the decency of letting us know before you let the national media know. And the world.”

Yeah I guess, but that sounds like a personal issue, idk, I guess I just have a different way of thinking about it, I can see how some think he should have told them ahead of time, but that was not leading them on.

Anyways I guess it is over now, but yeah I doubt he will be back in Cleveland, how do you leave Miami to go to Cleveland?

Re: Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert says he doesn't regret "The Letter"

Have you read or seen "The Color Purple"? Mister(portayed by Danny Glover) was the abusive controlling antagonist, a black man(and husband, which I fail to see the marital connection between Lebron and Gilbert). If anything the story was more about the sexism of the time. Sure, there are racist white townsfolk in the story, but there are no slave owners. I mean, seriously, if you're gonna call someone racist might as well get it right.